What stung me?????

[got4boyz]

OK, I went diving in Cozumel last week, and on this one day we see some eagle rays (see my report in Travel: Mexico forum). Well the current was so swift I had to hang onto one of those large bowl plants (I don't know what they are called)so I could just sit and watch the rays.

Anyway, I got stung a couple times by something. I assumed it was a jellyfish. When I came up I had a welt on my ankle, but by that evening it was gone.

However, a couple days later I had itchy welts on my right ankle, knee and wrist. It is definitely not a jellyfish sting. Each day the welts seem to get a little bit bigger. They are very strange. They are very small individual raised dots, often in a straight line, but the redness around it makes it look like one continuous welt. Actually they are several tiny bumps!

I was hoping that someone could give me some idea about what stung me and what might make it go away. I tried Benadryl cream, but no use. This is the 5th day and it doesn't show any signs of lessening. They don't hurt, just itch.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[Iguana Don]

The bowl shaped thing you are talking about is probably a Barrel Sponge, and your stinging could have come from Fire Coral.

Just my .02.

ID

 

[Ladydiver]

Hi Got4Boyz,

You might check this article by Walt Deas called Painful Critters. It identifies some of the creature in the great blue ocean that can sting and cause pain and give tips on dealing with some of them.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

 

[got4boyz]

Oh my, I think I will buy me a full wetsuit now! That was a frightening article.

Thanks so much for the info! If you read my trip report you will know that my divemaster handed me an octopus to hold. I hope he knew that particular one wasn't poisonous but he should have told me others were. Maybe he doesn't know!!!

I'm leaning towards the hydroids. Quote from article: "They generally have delicate fronds with rows of tiny polyps along each ´limb´." I recall seeing some small fern like plants and the bumps on me look like what would happen when I touched a frond with "rows of tiny polyps" as I have rows of tiny bumps. LOL

Thanks so much!

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi got4boyz,

Only one poisonous octopus in the world, the Blue Ringed Octopus, and it's found not in the Caribbean but rather in places far away, such as Australia & Indonesia. It is extremely poisonous & causes many more deaths each year than do sharks.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[Mario S Caner]

Hey DocV,
I ran into one of those guys in Australia, they sure are a beautiful creature!

 

[bio guy]

For all those freshwater divers out there. Did you know that we also have little stingers in the water. A cnidarian called hydra. For ease of an explanation (although the purists would hang their heads on this one), it looks just like a sea amenome, but much smaller. About the size of the nail on you little finger. But don't worry, although it has stinging nematocysts, your skin is normally just too tough....larval fish and plankton are fair game though. Just thought, for those of you with a keen eye who like to see unusual things, it might be something to look for next the time you go for a dive.

Just some pics and info.
http://www.calpoly.edu/~rsmattes/cnidarians/hydra2small.gif
http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/biochem/steele/default.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/06192.html

Cheers

 

[Warhammer]

My wife had a strange sting while we were in Jamaica. After surfacing from a dive, we were pushing off the side of the boat to get to the ladder. When I do this, I always try to push off with my fins, but she got a little to close and had to use her hand on one occasion. When she touched the side of the boat, she said she felt something sting her. After getting on the boat, she had an area of redness on the top of her hand that was about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long. It wasn't in a pattern but rather a jagged shape. She said it was mildly uncomfortable and the DM said it was a jellyfish sting. By the time we had gotten back to shore, the pain had gotten worse and swelling had set in to the point she couldn't use the hand without pain. Then these real small white top bumps came up on it and the redness grew a little in size. She saw the resort nurse who stated it wasn't a jellyfish sting, but didn't know what exactly it was. Anyway, it ended her diving for a few days. By the time we had gotten home 5 days later, it still hadn't gone away, but had started to dry out the skin and was still bothering her. She went to see a dermatologist and he also wasn't sure what it was. The redness finally disappeared after a little over 2 weeks, but she still (6 months later) complains that it's irritable from time to time. Any ideas?

 

[tomcat]

got4boyz,

i had the exact same thing that you described when i did a night dive once. this transparent "leg" was floating around and brushed against my arm. not sure if it used to be part of a jellyfish or if it was some kind of a hydroid.

the swelling was a long welt (pretty thin) at first. as it healed, the swelling rescinded into a neat line of bumps, exactly where my pores are.

bad news is, it took 2 months for the darn thing to go away and it itched like hell the whole time.

hope yours doesn't take as long to heal.

tomcat

 

[Rick Murchison]

got4boyz,
How's your sting now?
Has it resolved - or changed - or gotten worse?
Rick